Bria SDK - AT&T Foundry Case Study
www.counterpath.com
CounterPath - Case Study
AT&T is among the world’s largest mobile and fixed-line communications providers. It operates
several AT&T Foundries across the world. The purpose of the AT&T Foundries is to spearhead
innovation of products and services that may be considered for potential commercial launch in
later stages. AT&T has partnered with other technology leaders for support of the Foundries.
To rapidly prototype these new products and services, Foundry members from several disciplines
(e.g. engineering, user research, design) work in close proximity to each other. In addition to
improving communications and shortening development cycles, it also keeps teams focused on
user-centric requirements that are essential to a products or service’s success.
www.counterpath.com
Pg 2
About AT&T Foundries
AT&T Foundry™
at a glance:AT&T Foundry™ innovation centers are fast-paced and collaborative environments where AT&T teams work with developers to deliver the latest apps, products and services to market faster than ever before. At the AT&T Foundry™, developers work with AT&T technology experts, access resources they can’t get anywhere else, and accelerate their innovations
The Formula:
AT&T DevelopersTechnology suppliers
Applications +Products + Prototypes
AT&T Foundry
AT&T Foundry™ facts:
$100 million investment
Dozens of projects underway
Collaboration and innovation
Fast-tracked projects
Tools & resources for innovators
Locations worldwide
+ =
Idea Funding
Development Testin
g La
unch
3xFasters
Innovation
Innovation around the clock
© 2013 AT&T Intellectual Property. All rights reserved. AT&T and the AT&T logo are trademarks of AT&T Intellectual Property.
There are five permanent AT&T Foundry™ innovation centers open worldwide:
Palo Alto,CaliforniaOpened: 2011
Plano,TexasOpened: 2011
Plano,TexasOpened: 2013
Atlanta,GeorgiaOpened: 2013
Ra'anana,IsraelOpened: 2011
Sponsor Roster: Cisco, Ericsson, Alcatel-Lucent, Amdocs, Microsoft & Intel
Foundry teams have as a guiding principle that they should focus innovation and development on
stitching together existing technologies in novel ways to enable new user experiences. In other
words, teams are not supposed to re-invent existing technologies unless warranted. To the extent
that existing open source or commercial SDKs can streamline prototype development, Foundry
teams should use them to expedite the innovation process. Suppliers of these building block
technologies that prove easy and fast to integrate, and have rich and flexible roadmaps, have the
potential to appear in many AT&T Foundry prototypes that may lead to commercial products.
Foundry prototypes help to expedite and inform decision-making processes within the AT&T
organization, which helps to avoid hurdles that may slow down prototyping and commercialization
processes.
CounterPath - Case Study
Voice Communications in Automobiles
Many modern cars come equipped with technology to provide 3G or 4G data
connectivity to the car. The AT&T Foundry team looked to improve the voice
(and messaging) experience of users within a car by leveraging this existing data
connectivity as part of one of their projects. In this particular project, the AT&T
Foundry team sought to prototype a voice experience without using the voice or data
connectivity of any mobile device that user may (or may not) bring with them in the
car. The voice service should be personalized to an occupant of the car, but should
not rely on that person’s device actively tethering to the head unit (e.g. connecting via
Bluetooth) or even the presence of the person’s device. This solution would address
a person’s need for reliable voice communications within their cars even without their
phone at hand or with them, and also benefit them by avoiding battery drain on their
mobile devices.
The Foundry team prototyped a solution on a car’s head unit by adding a Voice Over
IP (VoIP) solution to the head unit using the data connection to be able to seamlessly
leverage voice capabilities of an IMS network. The prototype could deliver voice
services (based on the occupant’s identity) to the car, and even support the option of
having multiple users voice services available on the head unit.
www.counterpath.com
Pg 3
Connecting these technologies within the car with an interface that was appropriate
for a car was the primary goal of the prototype. For instance, they did not want
drivers distracted by trying to manipulate a smartphone interface while driving. For
this prototype, the efforts were focused on making the interface as seamless and
effective as possible. Another key emphasis was to minimize the development effort
to integrate with the IMS network as the primary goal was the experience, while
preserving a quality voice experience.
To accomplish this, AT&T needed an SDK that quickly could integrate with other
elements of the solution. The ability to expand over time to other IMS capabilities was
also important for the choice of SDK for the prototyping work. A number of SIP SDKs
were considered by the AT&T Foundry team.
The AT&T Foundry team selected CounterPath’s Bria SDK for the prototype project.
Bria SDK takes the Bria client technology that is deployed on millions of devices
worldwide and packages it for developers who are interested in creating individual or
unified communications services within their own platforms. Bria SDK offers voice,
messaging, presence, contact management capabilities to developers.
For AT&T’s Foundry voice project, Bria offered a voice component and leveraged
its efficient media engine that provides clear and reliable communications for users.
CounterPath offers a range of voice codecs that developers can use depending on
level of quality and bandwidth desired. The AT&T used a standard codec for
prototype purposes.
Bria SDK
CounterPath - Case Study
Bria SDK Continued
For interacting with the IMS network, Bria uses SIP. Bria is deployed in many of the largest
IMS networks in the world. It has long track record of effectively working with IMS platforms
from many providers.
Developers can easily integrate Bria and its SIP engine with their applications. The Core SDK
uses C++, with wrappers available in Java or .NET. Mobile developers can use the mobile SDK
for Android and iOS. The Bria SDK package comes with a comprehensive developer guide,
sample application code and dedicated email support to ensure success in deploying SDK
developed applications.
The Foundry team application developers used the Bria SDK for Android to integrate into the
head unit software.
www.counterpath.com
Pg 4
The AT&T Foundry team successfully delivered its prototype within roughly 12
weeks. Yet the development effort to integrate the Bria SDK was only 1-2 days of
effective work. With some smaller adjustments and the support from the CounterPath
team, AT&T Foundry was able to generate reliable voice calls. Compared to other
alternatives, the Bria SDK was much easier to work with and freed up team members
to focus on other parts of the prototype.
Bria SDK provides a useful building block for future prototyping that the AT&T Foundry
might pursue– with different communications services and integration into other non-
traditional end points.
Contact CounterPath
phone: +1.877.818.3777
email: [email protected]
Results
PSTNIMS1-480-555-1234
Head Unit in Car Smart Phone
Calls
Bria User
SIP
Bria leverages IMS mobile identity without the need
of a mobile phoneBria user does NOT need a •
smartphone in the car
Bria user can place and • recieve calls using the same mobile number
Bria registers to IMS via SIP•
Key Points